Turn Off That Television For Your Health

Last night Tom and I were babysitting for my eldest daughter and her partner who were going to a Queen tribute concert. They has warned us that bad weather had damaged their sky sattelite dish and the only channel working was Sky Sports (Hmm!). So when football had finished and Scarlett was asleep we looked through the Catch Up channels for something cheerful and light hearted to watch. We settled on an old Christmas special of Darling Buds Of May. We haven't watched an episode of this programme from the early 1990s for years and years and even though it all did look very dated we both said we did really enjoy it for a change. Christmas with the Larkins looked so perfect and idyllic my spirits were definitely lifted by the end of it! One thing I did think was that although I'm sure life was far from perfect or "perfick" as Pa Larkin would say in the 1950s there was no telelvision to intrude on a family Christmas.
  Not just Christmas but everyday life seems to be completely ruled by it. While I love some dramas I'm afraid I have made a descision that, for my health, the news programmes have to go from my life. It's not just politics which is so dire and depressing at the moment but the news seems to report on only misery, cross county lines gangs, modern day slavery, stabbings, starvation, war and endless ... no I won't mention the B word, all in our living rooms 24 hours a day. From now on I am just going to get a quick round up on an app on my phone and not watch it anymore. When Tom and I are in our caravan we choose quiet sites and don't have a TV or WIFI and often not even mobile phone access. It is heaven, we listen to music on our little 70s cassette player and play cards or a board game, walk the dogs and just relax.

 Could we live an adaptation of our caravan life all the time? It is something Tom and I discuss endlessly at the moment. We are definitely a family of frustrated hippies! We all long for something simpler and unless you grab your dreams I'm scared we will be taking them to our grave. We will keep planning for now and we have bought a bigger 1970s caravan this summer, which I will share photos of soon, but I am sure that in our future there will be some big changes.